The clause element that follows linking verbs and provides further information about the subject.

The clause element that follows linking verbs and provides further information about the subject.

• A. Complement
• B. Object
• C. Adverbial
• D. Predicate

Answer: (A)

When a verb links the subject to more information about the subject, the part that comes after the linking verb is a subject complement. This element completes the thought by naming or describing the subject itself, not performing an action or modifying the verb.

For example, in sentences with forms of be or other linking verbs, the subject complement can be an adjective: The sky is blue. It can be a noun phrase that renames the subject: He became a teacher. In both cases, the complement provides more information about the subject.

This differs from an object, which is what receives the action of an action verb (not the case with linking verbs). An adverbial, on the other hand, describes how, when, where, or to what extent the action occurs, and doesn’t describe the subject. And the term predicate refers to the verb phrase and everything that follows it, not specifically the part after a linking verb that assigns information to the subject.